the present

for a start into a new year, i consider a new blank booklet a wonderful start. this motivated me to get one for each of the kids. each was individually decorated, just little, not much but the goal was to make it resound with their personalities.

• elias got some very geometric lines, plaene, skizzen, ideen, gedanken, farbpaletten


• amos got some a red and black "line rider" over the front and first two pages


• naomi's got a girlish look with pink and lilac meandering lines. i did some more outlines of things throughout the booklet, as she loves to color and to extend given drawings...
  

the three of them were so happy and very exited to get started in scribbling things into their personal note books, amos wanted phone numbers of his friends! i would have not guessed that one. elias is keeping his booklet hidden and doesn't want to waste it with just anything.... it has to be something special. naomi was within a moment coloring the pages in bright red and yellow!
it turned out to be "the present", i'm happy to be their mom!

game night

yesterday night was game night at our house.
joel and the kids played "die siedler von catan". a dream come true for the boys, as they love to play board games, and i have to say it is rather excruciating for me to play board games with the kids. joel loves to play and so they did. naomi was on daddy's team, she was good at rolling the die. not just rolling the die, but also building her very own highway! the boys played each for themselves and of course were good at it. i'm in awe of how joel is playing games with the kids over and over again and really enjoys it a lot. it takes so much patience, perseverances and a cool head. amos has to play the game with one hand and in between turns run to the living room to practice on his drum pad...! he wants to become a famous drummer. he barely makes it back to the game to take his turn. and of course it takes for ever for him to decide what he wants to trade and build.
joel thank you for playing with the kids.

solstice

A solstice Salutation

I salute you!
There is nothing I can give you which you have not.
But there is much, that while I cannot give, you can take.
No heaven can come to us, unless our hearts fin rest in it today.
Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant.
Take peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow.
Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy.
Take joy!
And so at this Christmastime, I greet you,
With the prayer that for you, now, and forever,
The day breaks, and the shadows flee away!

an itialian benison from the 16th century

our furry friend

don't you love the way our squirrel is eating his lunch? we still have some pumpkins and squash to feed to our friends in the "wilderness" of city life.
it is so much fun watching them and observing how much they like to eat! i just put a little net with bacon fat out on a tree, we will see what is going to happen to it over the coming days.

live free - learn free!

encourrageing

i'm once more strengthened in my parenting ideas....
listen and watch 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do, by Gever Tulley from TED ideas worth spreading.

end of the year

it can't get any better.
we went to our friends house, cooked, played, and laughed together. the kids running wild and enjoying the snowy backyard as we drank a cup of tea. of course for a few moments things were wild and uncontrolled, but that's life, parenting fun, life entertainment.
after the big fun, all the kids enjoyed the sleep over. in sleeping bags, on the floor, with friends. for us that was a very high point of "last year".
some chocolate and an excellent drink, a warm living room and good conversation, ended in prayer, and the new year has begun.

thank you alberto, joanna, ana, isaac, margaret, and pheobe

no peace

if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other

-mother teresa

target mittens

here are my target mittens....
they look great and feel comfy with the 100% wool from some main sheep. it was a quick and easy knit. i'm sure i will do more of those.

a pleasant morning

it has been such a pleasant morning. sleeping in, watching the clouds move on a blue sky, the sunbeams reaching through. even the kids played peacefully in the boys room! wow, what a treat to start the day.
almost oven warm bread for breakfast and honey, a cup of hot tea, and no argument who gets the jam first....
it's noon now, we got a lot done already and joel's flute is in the mail too, lunch simmering on the stove, what else do i want?
being a mom of three, trying to somehow get the learning and living in one and the same life covered, as well as enjoying it.
maybe i will be able to get the mittens done tonight, it has been so much fun to finish up little projects. as soon as i'm done i will post a pic. they are the target mittens from knitting nature.

nautilus poncho

this turned out really nice. i just had to start knitting one of the beautyful things out of "knitting natures design".
it was an easy knit and i really like the way it turned out. i did use different yarns, which turned out to give it a nice accent. the most fun was to crochet the whole band together, it's a very nice way to do it and it looks different, as it is the back side of the stitch.

christmas

christmas was finally here!
yeah and naomi definitely had to put on her own angel wings. she was dancing to her dady's music. i'm so very thankful for moments like this one. redeeming the moments i struggle along in my life with kids.
the past few days have been very quiet and we enjoyed the time just being family. it's kind of rare as we live in community and often have guests too. so we didn't visit we didn't even leave the house for over 24hours! this is not happening often, but it was good to just be home and take the time to sing, make music, dance, cook, eat, knit, read, and sleep...

the quirrels gift

together with the kids we stringed cranberries and popcorn, it was fun and looks beautyful on our little evergreen in the back of the house. i even got a pomegranate, cut it in slices and hung it up. we were very happy to see the squirrels come and enjoy the treats. tough still hoping for the cardinals to come...

something worth reading

It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations - something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.
-- Katherine Paterson author of Jacob Have I Loved

advents calendar

our advents calendar is looking very nice. there is hope in these lights.

a nomad

A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places.
Isabelle Eberhardt

so true, to know i will not be able to really settle down at one place.
home is were my family and i are at the moment. at greenhaus today and who knows what tomorrow will bring? i guess that is true for many families around the globe, be it willingly or unwillingly. running away from harm, running toward a golden looking place on this earth.....
i guess, that's not what i think of. it's the inability to see myself belonging to just one place. feeling torn to explore new corners of this beautyfull planet. taking along the love and kindness i have been given from friends. passing on what from my bounty to friends and strangers on the way.

education!

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.
-- Thomas H. Huxley

i let the kids convince me to watch "the incredibles"!
the whole family was sitting in front of the screen and was at awe how incredibly stretchy the mom is, what might of a force the dad was showing.
of course the boys were taken a breath with the speed of "dash", and naomi was jolly about the babies joyfulness. violet's "forcefield" became the most interesting discussion theme during dessert with our neighbors!
rarely do we sit and stare at the screen together, but this time we all did and even enjoyed it. altough it got quite loud and was at times i would say violent, we did stick to until the end.
the kids were just glued to their pillows, could not close their mouth again, and overall it was fun. i'm sure about one thing, we will be talking about the supernatural powers for weeks to come.
http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/incredibles/

i have never been watching a soccer match in full length all my life. but today i did! together with my two boys, our brasilian friend and his baby boy...
what is happening to me?
i guess one more push on not becomming too american!
trying to get my kids interested in soccer instead of some american "sports" like football, baseball..... is this my still totally european mindset? is this my inner longing to keep european or what the heck is going on with me! i realize i do feel very strong about my kids beeing involved in sports, but it has to be a real sport. to home school it turnes out, is helpful in not running with the crowd and them wanting to do T-ball what ever this is (i never investigated this one bit more, it sounded too much like a starter into baseball).
i don't want to put anyone off, this is just an honest observation of myself, i guess...

wie ich doch immer wieder ueberrascht werde wenn joel mir was gefundenes zeigt...
a fun link to a power site!
http://www.kottke.org/06/06/powers-of-ten

rain rain we love you...
this are probably elias most often sung words int his kind of weather which we experienced quite a bit this spring. he loves the rain, the more it poures the better. as the water from the roof of our neighboring house is draining onto our "grassland". it is more as i like dough it is fun for the kids, especialy elias. the spout is broken and not there anymore, this makes a wonderful waterfall! right after breakfast he put his mudpants and rain jacket on, run outside and was not heard for the next two hours. all the buckets, watering cans, as well as some containers out of the recicling box are now lined up filled to the brink with rain water. "mom make sure nobody dumps the water out!" were his words as he tumbled into the house, all wet and very happy....